By: Ava Morgen

In his sparse office in Austin, Brandon Kinney doesn’t look like a revolutionary. His demeanor is calm, methodical—almost professorial. But make no mistake: this unassuming marketing professional has played a significant role in some of tech’s notable growth stories of the past decade.

“Numbers don’t lie,” Kinney says, gesturing toward multiple monitors displaying real-time conversion metrics. “But they also don’t tell you why someone hesitates before clicking ‘buy now.'”

This deceptively simple insight forms the cornerstone of Kinney’s approach, one that has contributed to companies like Coding Dojo achieving significant growth and helped Owner.com scale from $2M to $25M ARR—achievements that led to a $60M funding round and a $200M valuation. These aren’t just impressive numbers; they represent meaningful shifts in competitive markets where many marketing executives are satisfied with more incremental improvements.

The Accidental Marketer

Kinney’s path to marketing expert wasn’t plotted from the start. His resume reads like a Choose Your Own Adventure book—non-profit work, real estate development, even ownership of a martial arts gym. The turning point came when, as the youngest employee at a real estate development firm, Kinney was handed a puzzling assignment: “figure out the internet.”

“They literally said, ‘You’re young. Figure out where our marketing money is going online,'” he recalls with a laugh. “I had no marketing background. Zero. But I’ve always been drawn to puzzles.”

This unexpected challenge sparked something in Kinney—a fascination with the intersection of psychology and mathematics. Marketing, he discovered, wasn’t just about creative guesswork; it was measurable, testable, and improvable. He devoured every resource on paid search and Google Ads he could find, building a foundation that would later support his marketing ventures.

What sets Kinney apart from many other digital marketers isn’t just his technical expertise—though his mastery of platforms and analytics is noteworthy. It’s his focus on the human element behind the data.

“Most marketers look at a 5% conversion rate and think about tweaking button colors to get to 5.5%,” he says. “I want to know about the 95% who didn’t convert. What scared them? What confused them? That’s where the real insights are.”

Photo Courtesy: Brandon Kinney

The Coding Dojo Breakthrough

The transformation of Coding Dojo serves as the clearest example of Kinney’s methodology. When he joined, the coding bootcamp was spending $150,000 monthly on advertising with respectable results. Conventional wisdom would suggest cautious optimization—perhaps 10-20% improvements over time.

Kinney had a different approach.

“I presented a plan to significantly increase our ad spend while simultaneously cutting acquisition costs,” he says. “The company had ambitious growth goals that seemed unattainable to most—except I believed we could actually achieve them.”

The marketing team wasn’t immediately convinced. “You could feel the skepticism in meetings,” Kinney remembers. But he persisted, methodically implementing what would become his signature system.

First came the “polling stations”—strategic customer surveys positioned throughout the buyer journey asking one deceptively powerful question: “What’s the number one reason you almost did not take this action today?”

The answers revealed hidden obstacles that were invisible in the analytics. Prospective students weren’t primarily concerned about price or program quality—the assumptions that had guided previous marketing. Instead, they feared being “too old,” “not technical enough,” or “falling behind younger classmates.”

Armed with these insights, Kinney reframed the messaging. Rather than emphasizing curriculum or job placement rates, ads began addressing these unspoken anxieties directly. One particularly effective campaign featured a 42-year-old former truck driver now working as a developer, with the headline: “I thought I was too old to code. I was wrong.”

The results were immediate and significant. Lead-to-call conversion rates jumped from 5% to 20%—a moment Kinney describes as pivotal. “When you see a metric quadruple overnight, you know you’ve touched a nerve.”

But Kinney wasn’t satisfied with this single breakthrough. He partnered with a data specialist to build a custom tracking platform that provided unprecedented visibility into which ads were generating not just impressions or clicks, but actual customers. This allowed for rapid experimentation across new channels—expanding beyond Google Search to Bing, Facebook, YouTube, and native advertising.

“We implemented a quick-test system,” Kinney explains. “New channel ideas got $5,000 to prove themselves before earning more budget. Most failed, but the winners more than paid for the experiments.”

Perhaps most controversially, as leads multiplied, Kinney insisted on tripling the sales team—an expensive move that initially worried executives. But his calculations proved correct: the increased conversion rates and expanded marketing channels generated such volume that the expanded team quickly became necessary.

Within 18 months, Coding Dojo increased their revenue significantly, leading to an acquisition. The systems Kinney built were so effective that after his departure, Coding Dojo retained him as a $5,000 monthly consultant, and several executives brought him to their next ventures.

The Birth of Bak-First

Most professionals with Kinney’s track record would leverage it into a cushy C-suite role at a well-funded startup or command high consulting fees. Instead, he’s taken a more unconventional approach with his lead generation agency, Bak-First.

“I got tired of agencies taking retainers regardless of results,” he says. “So we flipped the model—we only get paid when we deliver customers. Period.”

This performance-based approach means Bak-First sometimes invests hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaigns before seeing any return—a risk level that would terrify most agency owners.

“We’ve lost money on campaigns,” Kinney admits frankly. “But overall, the model works because we’re completely aligned with our clients’ interests. When they win, we win.”

This alignment extends to Bak-First’s internal culture. The company operates entirely remotely, with a focus on data and analysis rather than perks or office luxuries. More unusually, Kinney has instituted a policy where team members’ hypotheses get tested as long as the data suggests they’re worth pursuing.

“I’ve been wrong too many times to trust my gut over data,” he says. “Some of our biggest breakthroughs came from junior team members whose ideas I initially doubted.”

This humility might stem from Kinney’s background. Growing up in challenging family circumstances with limited guidance, he developed self-reliance and resilience that serve him well in the unpredictable world of digital marketing.

“When you’ve had to figure things out for yourself from an early age, business uncertainty doesn’t scare you as much,” he reflects. “I know I can start over if needed.”

The Future of Accountable Marketing

As the conversation winds down, Kinney offers his perspective on where marketing is heading in the next decade. His answer is immediately clear: accountability.

“The days of marketers making vague promises and clients hoping for results are diminishing,” he asserts. “Companies increasingly demand measurable results, not empty promises. They want partners with skin in the game.”

This shift explains why Kinney’s approach—performance-based, data-driven yet psychologically nuanced—positions him at the forefront of an emerging paradigm in digital marketing. While others chase vanity metrics, he maintains an unwavering focus on the one metric that ultimately matters: profitable customer acquisition at scale.

For entrepreneurs and marketing executives alike, Kinney offers this parting advice: “Find mentors who have actually done what you’re trying to do, not just talked about it. And when data contradicts your assumptions, have the courage to let those assumptions go.”

In an industry often characterized by hype and buzzwords, Brandon Kinney represents something different—a quiet professional whose remarkable results speak more loudly than any marketing jargon ever could.

If you’d like to learn more about Bak-First, contact us here.

Published by Jeremy S.